My Take on Standard Golgari

I chose Golgari for the Standard portion of Pro Tour Guilds of Ravnica. It wasn’t one of the most exciting decks I’ve ever sleeved up for a tournament, but it’s very solid, with a fighting chance of beating anything I might run into. I played it to a respectable 7-3 record.

Jadelight Ranger is the unsung hero of the color green in this format. Though unassuming, its effect is crucial for generating board presence and card advantage at the same time. It’s the best card for smoothing your draw, and any time you open on Jadelight and mana to cast it, you know your deck is going to deliver. I view it as this format’s Tireless Tracker or Courser of Kruphix.

The other important payoff cards are Vivien Reid and Find // Finality, which are both enormously powerful. Specifically, they’re both “brewkillers,” by which I mean they eviscerate any opponent who hasn’t specifically built their deck with them in mind. Built your deck around Angels or enchantments? Here’s Vivien to snipe your key card and leave behind a deadly threat. Medium-speed creature deck? Well, Finality is a one-sided Wrath that’ll hit every time the Golgari player gets up to 6 mana.

Golgari is beatable, but you don’t beat it by accident. The decks that have strong game against Golgari are the ones that go way underneath—like White Weenie with Adanto Vanguard or Tocatli Honor Guard—or the ones that refuse to play permanents that are vulnerable to Vivien and Ravenous Chupacabra. These include super-controlling builds of Jeskai, or Izzet Drakes decks that use the Maximize Velocity + Dive Down plan.

I believe that this “brewkiller” dynamic is simultaneously what caused Golgari to be the most successful deck in the first week of Guilds of Ravnica Standard, and what caused it to fade in popularity following Grand Prix Atlanta and Lille, once players began to adapt to it. Now, we’ve settled into a spot where it’s a known quantity, but not necessarily the deck to beat. In such a world, I think Golgari a pretty good choice.

Andrea Mengucci, my colleague here on ChannelFireball.com, already wrote an excellent piece on Golgari. So rather than walking the same ground that he’s already covered, I’ll focus on the spots where I can add to what he has written, or offer an alternative perspective.

My recommended deck list has 24 lands. 23 is enough for the main deck (and is what I played at PT GRN) but I think that playing an extra land gives you a bit more flexibility. The problem is that in many post-sideboard games, you’re either taking out your Llanowar Elves (usually matchups where the opponent has board sweepers or Goblin Chainwhirlers), or you’re suffering under the oppression of a Tocatli Honor Guard and can’t use explore triggers to help you. My 24th land is an extra Swamp, which helps with a huge fail-case of Golgari—struggling to find your 2nd black mana against aggressive white decks.

Sideboard Guide

Again, I’ll point you to Andrea’s article for great Golgari sideboarding advice. Still, I’ve included mine because my recommended deck list is a little different, and because there are one or two places where Andrea and I disagree.

Mono-Red

Out

In

If you only remember one thing from all that Andrea and I have written, I hope you’ll remember that Mono-Red is going to go big against you after sideboarding. If you sideboard to beat their game 1 deck, you’re liable to get yourself into big trouble.

That said, you can feel free to adjust this sideboard plan based on what you think your opponent is up to. For example, I could envision having zero, one, or two Ritual of Soots against different Mono-Red sideboard plans.

This is another matchup where sideboarding can be adjusted based on the opponent across the table from you. If they’re sticking with their game 1 plan, then Duress and Carnage Tyrant are non-essential. If they’re going full control with Entrancing Melody and Ral, Izzet Viceroy, then those cards are as good as gold.

Out

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There are as many builds of Selesnya as there are stars in the sky. Thankfully, it’s a matchup where you basically just want to do your thing. Focus on killing their stuff and gaining two-for-one advantages. You’ll want plenty of ways to destroy enchantments, and a small number of Duresses will make it hard for them to set up March of the Multitudes or The Immortal Sun.

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About The Author

Reid Duke burst onto the competitive scene in 2011 by winning the Magic Online Championship at Worlds, and has since grown to become one of the most widely respected players in Magic. He has three Pro Tour Top 8s, a runner-up finish at the 2013 World Championships, and five Grand Prix wins to his name.